1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to a patient handling device such as a hospital bed and associated methods of operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern patient handling devices are becoming increasingly integrated with advanced electronic devices, such as a microprocessors, communication busses, network interfaces, wireless networks, high-tech displays, and advanced sensors. These electronic devices have the potential to greatly enhance patient care. But too often, these electronic devices are complex and do not adequately address ease of use, which can be essential for patient care by accounting for the stresses of a hospital/medical environment. As a result, modern patient handling device controls and user interfaces may be difficult to operate.
One difficulty is the complexity involved in setting the desired state of the components of the patient handling device in order to produce an alarm should the components be in a non-desired state. Another difficulty is the ability to even notice when the patient handling device is alarming due to one or more components in a non-desired state. Yet another difficulty is the ability to prevent a patient from lowering a fowler of the patient handling device past prescribed angular position, yet maintaining the ability for the patient to still selectively adjust the fowler between a plurality of angular positions above the prescribed angular position. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a patient handling device that can address the difficulties described above.